Alberto El Patrón
José Alberto Rodríguez (born May 25, 1977) is a Mexican professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist, perhaps best known for his tenure with the American professional wrestling promotion World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he competed under the ring name Alberto Del Rio. He is currently signed to Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA), Ring of Honor (ROH) and Lucha Underground (LU) while also competing on the United States independent circuit, as well as promotions in Japan and Puerto Rico. Rodríguez is a three-time professional wrestling World Champion, having the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship once, the AAA World Heavyweight Championship once, and the WWL World Heavyweight Championship once. Before working for WWE, Rodríguez used the name Dos Caras Jr. as both a mixed martial artist and luchador in mostly Mexico and Japan. He worked in both of Mexico's main wrestling promotions and achieved success in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). In English, the name Dos Caras translates to Two Faces, which is referring to the symbol of a double headed eagle on his mask. After being fired from WWE in August 2014, Rodríguez returned to Mexico to work for Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) under the new ring name ' El Patrón Alberto' ("The Boss Alberto"). In December, Rodríguez won the AAA World Heavyweight Championship. The same year, it was announced that he had also signed with American promotion Ring of Honor (ROH), using the ring name Alberto el Patrón. In January 2015, it was revealed that Rodríguez had signed with the Lucha Underground (LU) series. In shocking news, Rodríguez announced that he had signed a contract with the WWE '''and would be returning to the company under his new ring name '''Alberto el Patrón. Amateur wrestling Born in San Luis Potosí as the son of luchador Dos Caras. Rodríguez graduated from Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí where he earned a degree in architecture. Growing up in a family of wrestlers Rodríguez decided to take up Greco-Roman wrestling, training under Leonel Kolesni and Juan Fernández. He earned a place on the Mexican national team in Greco-Roman wrestling and while competing on the national team obtained several accomplishments. In 1997, he placed third at the World Junior Championships, in the Czech Republic. He also won the Central American and Caribbean Games in his weight division three times and won a medal at the Pan American Games. Rodríguez was on track to compete at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, but due to a lack of funding and support, Mexico did not send a wrestling team that year. Professional wrestling career Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (2000–2002) After not competing at the 2000 Olympic games, Rodríguez turned to the family business, and trained with his father to become a professional wrestler. Caras made his debut appearance on May 9, 2000 as he ran in during an Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) show to save his father from a beat down from El Texano, Pirata Morgan. Over the next couple of years, Caras worked both in Mexico and Japan to gain experience in the ring. In Mexico he worked exclusively for AAA making appearances at shows such as the 2002 Verano de Escándalo, where he teamed with Gronda and El Hijo del Solitario to defeat the trio of Pirata Morgan, Sangre Chicana and El Brazo. Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Técnico (2005–2009) In 2005, Rodríguez was signed to a contract with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), promotion that Rodríguez considers his house. In his first test in the company, Caras competed in the 2005 La Copa Junior, but the storyline of the tournament saw him defeated in the semi-final by Dr. Wagner Jr. Caras's advancement to the semi-final of the cup, mere months after signing with the company was an indicator that the bookers were interested in elevating him up the rankings, this was further supported when he received matches for both the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship and the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship inside a three-week period. The following year on March 31, 2006 Caras was entered again into the La Copa Junior tournament and earned a return victory over Dr. Wagner Jr. who knocked him out of the tournament the previous year. He also won against Heavy Metal and Apolo Dantés to gain a place in the final, defeating Héctor Garza to win the prize. While working in Japan, Caras had taken to teaming with another second-generation wrestler, Lizmark Jr., and when both found themselves in CMLL they were teamed up once again with the team's famous fathers being the selling point. Over the next year Caras found himself without much direction, he worked storylines with Último Guerrero and Kenzo Suzuki but nothing long term came of it. Caras received two opportunities to challenge Universo 2000 for the CMLL World Heavyweight title but came up short until his third attempt on July 8, 2007 when he became the CMLL World Heavyweight Champion. While in wrestling promotions outside of Mexico the Heavyweight title would indicate that he was the top man in the federation, Mexican wrestling promotions tend to put more emphasis on the lower weight divisions over the heavyweights. Caras's run with the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship remained largely uneventful with only four title defenses in the 533 days that he held the championship. After defending against Lizmark Jr. and former champion, Universo 2000, it was nine months before his next defense. By the fall of 2008 a story broke that Rodríguez had wrestled a dark match for WWE (WWE) and that they had offered him a contract. Over the following months conflicting reports of whether he had signed or not arose but he remained CMLL World Heavyweight Champion. When Caras lost the title to Último Guerrero it was believed that he had indeed signed with WWE, with him being rumored to be a surprise participant in the 2009 Royal Rumble. However, Rodríguez remained with CMLL and stated that he signed a four-year deal and chose CMLL because they offered him a better deal than WWE. Rudo (2009) Throughout his entire career Dos Caras Jr. had always played a heroic character, known in Mexico as a técnico. However, after the contract dealings with WWE surfaced he began showing signs of becoming a villain, known as a rudo. He would turn his attention away from the matches and instead try to win the approval of the fans, often costing his team the match because he was distracted. Caras himself explained this behavior by stating that he "hurt his shoulder, but bravely stayed in the arena". After hinting at a change for weeks Caras finally cemented his villainous persona on April 11, 2009, the first member of the Rodríguez family to be a heel. After becoming a rudo, he began working a storyline with Shocker. World Wrestling Entertainment Del Rio (2009–2014) El Patrón (2015-present) Return to AAA (2014–2015) After being fired from WWE, on August 11, 2014 AAA announcer Arturo Rivera stated that Rodríguez would be returning to the promotion at Triplemanía XXII. AAA officially confirmed that Del Rio's return later that same day and started advertising him for the event. In a press conference on August 14, Rodríguez acknowledged that WWE owned the Alberto Del Rio name and also revealed that he would be working for AAA under the new ring name El Patrón ("The Boss"). He was nicknamed this in WWE by Ricardo Rodriguez, during ring introductions and Spanish commentary, but it was not trademarked. Rodríguez also announced that for the moment he was under a 90-day no-compete clause, which would prevent him from wrestling for AAA. He later also revealed that as part of his departure from WWE, Del Rio was banned from wrestling in the United States for one year. On August 17 at Triplemanía XXII, El Patrón and his father Dos Caras appeared to open the show, speaking on coming to AAA and addressing WWE, claiming that the company was racist. They were interrupted by the Los Perros del Mal stable. After one of the members laid his hands on Caras, El Patrón ran after the stable and cleared house, while officials reminded him that he has the no-compete clause from the WWE. The show ended with El Patrón attacking Los Perros del Mal leader El Hijo del Perro Aguayo, after his win in the main event. In early September 2014, Rodríguez announced that his lawyers had resolved his issues with WWE and he was no longer restricted by the 90-day no-compete clause. On September 14, Rodríguez, now billed as "El Patrón Alberto", made his AAA in-ring return teaming with Myzteziz and La Parka in a six-man tag team main event, where they defeated Aguayo, Averno and El Texano Jr. Alberto then began feuding with El Texano Jr. over the AAA World Heavyweight Championship. On November 28, Ricardo Rodriguez made his AAA debut, once again becoming Alberto's personal ring announcer. On December 7 at Guerra de Titanes, Alberto defeated El Texano Jr. to become the new AAA World Heavyweight Champion. With the win, Rodríguez became the first wrestler to have held both the CMLL and AAA World Heavyweight Championships. Other promotions (2014–2015) On November 1, 2014, Rodríguez, working under the ring name "Alberto", made his debut for the Japanese Wrestle-1 promotion, defeating Masakatsu Funaki. On November 15, 2014, Rodríguez made a surprise appearance at Tommy Dreamer's House of Hardcore VII show, where he cut a promo expressing his delight of being in the former ECW Arena for the first time. Rodríguez would then fend off an attack from Brian Myers. Rodríguez defeated champion Glamour Boy Shane and Ricky Banderas to capture the World Wrestling League World Heavyweight Championship in January 2015. Ring of Honor (2014–2015) On December 11, 2014, Ring of Honor (ROH) announced that Rodríguez, billed as Alberto el Patrón, had signed to make his debut for the promotion on January 3, 2015. He defeated Christopher Daniels in his debut match. Lucha Underground (2015) On January 17, 2015, Lucha Underground announced that Rodríguez had signed with the promotion. He debuted at the promotion's television tapings in Los Angeles, California later that same day. His on-screen debut was in a post-credits teaser on the February 4th episode. Personal life Son of noted luchador Dos Caras, nephew of Mil Máscaras and Sicodelico, and cousin to Sicodelico Jr. and Hijo de Sicodelico, Rodríguez is part of one of the most well known Mexican wrestling families. His younger brother Guillermo signed a WWE contract in August 2012 and was assigned to the promotion's developmental territory NXT Wrestling under the ring name Memo Montenegro, but was released in July 2013. He supports Real Madrid FC. He is married with three children: a son, Joseph (born April 17, 2010) and two daughters Estephanie and Sophie. In wrestling *'Finishing moves' ** As Alberto Del Rio / El Patrón Alberto / Alberto El Patrón *** Rompe Destinos (Cross armbar, usually while rolling) (WWE/AAA/Independent circuit) ** As Dos Caras Jr. *** Military press dropped into a bridging German suplex *'Signature moves' ** Arm wringer ** Double foot stomp, sometimes to a trapped opponent on the rope ** Double knee armbreaker ** Double knee backbreaker, sometimes to a rope hung opponent and preceded by multiple forearm smashes to the rope hung opponent's back ** Diving double axe handle ** Fireman's carry double knee gutbuster ** Moonsault ** Multiple kick variations *** Back *** Drop *** Shoot *** Super, sometimes to a sitting or kneeling opponent *** Step-up enzuigiri, sometimes to a cornered opponent or to an opponent on the top rope ** Multiple suplex variations *** Belly-to-back *** Bridging / Release German *** Inverted super ** Senton, sometimes from the top rope or in a seated position ** Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker *'Managed by' ** Brodus Clay ** Dos Caras ** Ricardo Rodriguez *'Nicknames' ** "El (Hijo del) Hércules Potosino" ** "The Essence of Excellence" / "La Esencia de la Excelencia" ** "The Pride of Mexico" ** "The Mexican Aristocrat" ** "Mexico's Greatest Export" *'Entrance themes' ** "Realeza" performed by Mariachi Real de Mexico and composed by Jim Johnston (August 20, 2010 – March 11, 2013; February 10, 2014 – August 7, 2014) ** "Realeza 2013" performed by Mariachi Real de Mexico and composed by Jim Johnston (March 18, 2013 – February 3, 2014) ** "Frijolero" by Molotov (AAA) ** "Alive In Valencia" performed by Non-Stop Music and composed by Eric Jimenez and Gabriel Canadi (January 3, 2015 – February 26,2015) ** "Smooth" by Santana (WWE) (March 2, 2015 - Present) Championships and accomplishments Amateur wrestling * Central American and Caribbean Games ** First place (3 times) * Pan American Games ** Placed (1 time) * World Junior Championships ** Third place (1997) Professional wrestling * Asistencia Asesoría y Administración ** AAA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) ** Técnico of the Year (2014) * Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre ** CMLL World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) ** La Copa Junior (2006) * Pro Wrestling Illustrated ** PWI ranked him #'6' of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2011 * World Wrestling Entertainment ** WWE Intercontinental Championship (1 time) * World Wrestling League ** WWL World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) * Wrestling Observer Newsletter ** Best Gimmick (2010) Luchas de Apuestas record